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Intros not going well at all....

Posted By: saturngirl

Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 04:29 AM

worried I've had my new suggie girl Sophie for almost 2 months now. I've been swapping out blankies and toys. Also, their cages are side by side. At night when they both wake up Cooper my little guy goes to the side of his cage and looks over at Sophie and makes a clicking type noise to her. Sophie will hiss and bark at Cooper. I've put them in the bathtub for face to face intros and Sophie will attack Cooper then they ball up. Cooper gets so scared that he wets himself. I then have to give him lots of attn to get him to calm down...which I don't mind doing because he's my baby. After this Sophie just wants to be by herself. I want them to be together. Sophie is 2 months younger than Cooper but they are really close to the same size so I don't think that's the issue. I think Sophie is wanting to be the dominant one???

Any ideas what I should do next or what I could do differently???
Posted By: Trigger

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 06:47 AM

This is the info from Bourbon's Sugar Glider info page
Introducing 2 Gliders

I haven't tried intros so that's all I've got.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 07:00 AM

Oh how scary!
I hope things get better with them!
Posted By: cinnamonstix

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 07:12 AM

I would say just keep doing what you are doing...maybe hold off on another face to face for a while...but keep the cages together and keep pouch and toy swapping. You can also try cage swapping.

Maybe after another week or two of working on these try the face to face again and see if things are going any better at all.
Posted By: Kiiru

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 12:16 PM

Have you tried putting a little dab of vanilla on the their noses so they smell the same?

I hope everything works out eventually.
Posted By: saturngirl

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 12:25 PM

I never thought in a million years that intros would be like this... these little bundles of cuteness wow! can really fight and it's not cute at all. At least having them in the bathtub I can get them apart really fast.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 02:35 PM

Originally Posted By: Kiiru
Have you tried putting a little dab of vanilla on the their noses so they smell the same?

I hope everything works out eventually.


Don't put the vanilla right on their nose (mouth or eyes either). Anywhere else works.

I'm having just as much trouble as you...but worse. My male wants to kill the gliders I was trying to introduce him to. I have been swapping cages, pouches, toys...everything. I had the cages side by side for a while but he was obsessed with attacking them. Tried to grab whatever he could through the bars and would fall to the ground trying to do this. Then he started losing weight. So I sort of gave up on it and moved the cages apart again. They are still in the same room. But I am too afraid to let them get near each other. I made that mistake once and I got bit really badly. I was happy it was me and not the other gliders because he would have seriously injured them. worried
Posted By: saturngirl

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 02:43 PM

Hi Erin
Sorry to hear you're having the same problem with intros. I never thought it would be this difficult. Gosh almighty. The weird thing is when I put them back in their cages they are back in the corner looking at and calling each other...so I'm not sure why the face to face goes so wrong??? Sophie I think is the dominant glider... Cooper is so laid back even though he's a wild man during playtime.
Cooper is 25 weeks old and Sophie is 16 weeks old ~ he's just a tad larger than her but not by much...she's my chunky girl.
I'm going to wait another week before trying to do face to face again. I think I may try swapping their cages for 1 night to see how that goes????
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 02:47 PM

Just wanted to add that when I was introducing my first pair to each other, they did fight for a couple of days. But there is a distinct difference in a little squabble and an all out fight. The hissing, clicking, and barking are pretty good signs. If they were crabbing at each other that would be worse. They do have to work out who is in charge and what each other's place is. Sophie may be trying to show her dominance as you said. If you are having a pretty easy time seperating them, then she's probably not attacking to kill (like my male). I'd say to keep trying to do supervised play sessions in a neutral place. I also did cage within a cage method which Suz (SugargliderSuz) recommended to me. I got a smaller cage and put it inside the bigger one. After a few days when I could see they wanted to interact with each other and not to try and fight, I let them be together. It worked really well. But I wouldn't dare try it with my male now because he would try to bite any body part that he could get to. At least you aren't having that problem. Good luck...
Posted By: saturngirl

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 02:50 PM

She's gone after Cooper each time and before I know it they are balled up fighting. Cooper wets himself each time. I hate putting him thru that just for him to possibly have a friend.
Not sure if they'll ever be able to be with each other.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 02:58 PM

The same thing happened to me. My female was older and I was introducing my male to her. She's about 3 months older than him, but they were about the same size when I put them together. She would run over to him and hit him in the face, or grab him and pull him down. They would ball up and crab. I hated watching it. But I never saw her bite him, so I let them work out their differences...supervised of course. It's been a while so I'm trying to remember exactly how that went...but I think that I let them play inside the cage together while I was watching, but then separated them when I couldn't watch. Also, you can try putting them in a pouch together during the day when they are sleepy. Watch them of course, but they may just curl up and go back to sleep with one another. If they do that, then they wake up smelling similar and intros usually go better.
Posted By: saturngirl

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 05:04 PM

With Sophie being so aggressive I'm really scared to put her down into Coopie's pouch and see if they go to sleep.

I may try the vanilla or peppermint scent when I try intros again.

Has anyone else had bad intros and somehow it worked out??? I'm looking for some insight on this....please help
Posted By: Rieshu

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 05:07 PM

Sorry I can't help but I too am going through horrible intros. I wish you the best of luck!
Posted By: Mel2mdl

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 05:53 PM

My original intros were nightmares. Karl would attack and try to kill any glider he came near, except his cagemate Lennie.

I slowed it way down. We put cages near each other, but not close enough to grab. Then we switched pouches and toys every two days. I even went so far as to switch the cages - moved the gliders. Finally, I put one cage in the playroom and would leave one in the cage and let the other play - supervised, of course.

I also carried them in pouches side by side. Last thing I did was introduce during the day for the final step. Just shoved the new one into Karl's pouch. They curled up and went to sleep. (This was after almost 3 months of everything else.)
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 11/20/07 06:00 PM

thanks for all the great advice above....our intro are going well so far...keep your fingers crossed
Posted By: saturngirl

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 12/25/07 07:05 AM

Ok, I think my intros are going better but now it seems that Cooper and Sophie have swapped their attitudes. Sophie actually touched her nose to Cooper's and he tried to bite her in the face. So, now she's ready to be with him and he's not into it anymore???? What's happening with this. Before it was her that was fighting him....what happened??? Is he showing his dominance???


I've been swapping their cages and that's been going well and then I did a face to face on Friday morning and they touched noses then Cooper jumped out of his bonding pouch and went after Sophie. She got scared and started shaking. So, I put him up and spent some time with her. I'm going to do another face to face in a few days.
Posted By: melek007

Re: Intros not going well at all.... - 12/28/07 03:47 AM

Just take it slow and keep working at it. It took a couple months to get all three of my gliders together because the two females weren't getting along. Hang in there! thumb
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